Gut instinct is our intuition. It’s being able to understand something immediately, without any conscious reasoning.
Exactly … no pro-con lists, no asking friends for guidance—you just know.
We are all born intuitive. Some of us will trust our intuition more than others, and as such, nurture it more too.
Sadly, part of our modern social conditioning, has been to deem intuition/ gut feelings untrustworthy; instead, we tend to embrace a more left brain, logical approach to thinking. Thanks to this, our intuitive process is diminished.
Luckily, our intuition is so deeply instinctual that even if we’ve been out of touch with it for our entire lives, it’s still there inside of us, waiting for us to summon its wisdom.
When the cognitive mind is busy, it overrides the intuitive right brain and the subconscious mind, the home of intuition. Learning to quiet down this superficial “monkey” mind layer is the key to unlocking your deeper, far more powerful subconscious mind.
When you’re sleeping, your cognitive mind rests and opens space for the subconscious mind to signal you in dreams.
Awesome … but apart from sleep, what else can we do to reconnect with our gut instinct? Here’s the part that I find most fascinating!!!
Get creative.
Engaging in creative activities, such as drawing, colouring, doodling, or free-flow journaling, quiets the cognitive mind and allows your intuition to speak up.
5 will lead to 6
Stimulating your other 5 senses will sharpen and hone our 6th sense – gut instinct.
Heightening our sense of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste will bring us closer and more in tune with the next one, our gut instinct.
1. SMELL: Inhale strong scents every day.
Smelling powerful scents on a daily basis engages receptors in your nose, improving your sense of smell.
Smell fresh ground up coffee beans before making your morning brew.
Freshly cut oranges are one of my favourites !
2. SOUND: Listen to music.
Science confirms that humans are hard-wired to respond to music.
You can sharpen your sense of hearing by listening to music, especially alternating genres with elements that are clearly distinct from one another.
3. SIGHT: Do eye exercises.
Warm your eyes
Roll your eyes
Focus
Massage your temples
4. TASTE: Add variety to your diet.
Stimulate your taste buds by mixing up your diet.
Try new recipes, spices and foods you don’t normally eat.
5. TOUCH: Pay attention to how things feel.
Too often, we take our sense of touch for granted.
Being conscious about what you’re touching helps awaken your brain and stimulate your sensory recognition pattern. Think about running your hand across a silk shirt or getting a hot stone massage – you are choosing to actively think about the feeling it provides.
Finally, here are a couple of thoughts on going with your gut from some true believers …
Steve Jobs said it’s “more powerful than intellect.” It powers every market decision Warren Buffett makes. Richard Branson prefers it to stats and data. Albert Einstein called it the “only real valuable thing.”
